Alysha Rubulcaba

“No, Rhodes. Everything is not okay. You know the lake just north of the university?”
“Yeah, it’s all dried up now. Does that every summer.”
“Well, there’s a dead body in the middle of it. You need to call the police and tell them to get out here, now.”
― Behcet Kaya, Uncanny Alliance

“The captain saluted and left, and Alix heard him shouting orders to men to form a firing squad and then orders for the prisoners to be brought out and lined up. There seemed to be some kind of altercation going on. Someone was protesting vocally.
‘I am a British airman and I demand to be treated as a prisoner of war!’
The sound of the voice struck her somewhere in the middle of her chest and she jumped to her feet and ran out of the house. A ragged line of prisoners was drawn up on the far side of the clearing with a dozen Partisans carrying rifles facing them. Her eyes went along the line. Every face was heavily bearded, unrecognisable at a distance, but then a difference in the way the men were dressed struck her. All wore tunics that had some suggestion of a uniform but on one man the trousers that protruded below it, though ragged and faded, were unmistakably Air Force blue.
‘Ready!’ shouted the captain. ‘Take aim.’
‘No!’ Alix tore across the clearing and flung herself between the firing line and the prisoners. ‘No! I know this man! He is an American, but with the British RAF. He is not an enemy.’
‘Not an enemy?’ the captain queried. ‘Then what is he doing fighting alongside the Chetniks?’
‘I don’t know,’ Alix said breathlessly. ‘But you can’t shoot him without finding out. If you shoot a British serviceman you could jeopardise any help we might get.’
The captain looked uneasy. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘We’ll let Comrade Tito decide about this.’ He called to one of the men guarding the prisoners. ‘Bring that man over here. The one who’s been causing all the trouble.’
The man in the blue trousers was shoved roughly forward.
‘Alix!’ he gasped hoarsely. ‘Thank god!’
She caught hold of his arm. ‘Steve? It is you, isn’t it?’
‘What’s left of him,’ he responded, with an effort at a smile.
 ”
― Holly Green, A Call to Home

“My bad, Colonel. What do you need?”
“I want to report a homicide.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Homicide? Did you kill someone?”
His eyes narrowed at my poor attempt at levity.
“Me. I’m the one who was killed.”
“Colonel, Sir, with all due respect, I really don’t have time for this kind of humor.”
 ”
― Behcet Kaya, Deception: A Jack Ludefance Novel

“The estate was immaculate, but parts of it felt unused.
Not neglected, exactly—just sealed. Like they’d been
closed off intentionally.”
― D.L. Maddox, The Dog Walker: Secrets